“Sisimpur”, the program that embarked on television aiming to turn the learning into more enjoyable experience for pre-primary and primary level children, has completed 17 years and steps on the 18 th year on this 15 April. Every year, the 15 April is celebrated as “Sisimpur Day” as it was the very first day of broadcasting Sisimpur.

With the help of the television show and printed materials, Sisimpur helps children with identifying letters, identifying letters from words, matching words with letters, creating sentences with words. They also use the the materials from the the surrounding environment and help identify the colors and words through them. For example, the beginning letters of the words such as house, banana, mango, table, clock, cow, tree, leaf, pen, book etc. are taught through play.

Through the characters of Sisimpur, different elements of the environment such as colors, shapes, etc. are taught. The accurate pronunciation of Bangla language has always been regarded as an essential matter at Sisimpur. That is why, all the Sisimpur Muppets, human characters and even in the animation episodes the Standard Bangla pronunciation has been especially emphasized so that the children get sufficient exposure to Standard Bangla language and can practice as well. At the same time the dialects, cultures and life-styles of different areas are also portrayed. So, the children learn to show respect towards various cultures and dialects which are different than theirs.

At present, the 14th Season of Sisimpur is being telecasted. This popular television program is shown in BTV, Duranta TV and Machranga TV. From the onset of this endeavor, Bangladesh Television has been broadcasting Sisimpur program relentlessly for last 17 years which is a remarkable fact. This is a result of the cordial efforts by Ministry of Women and Children’s Affair of Bangladesh and the Authority of Bangladesh Television and Sisimpur. About 10 million population of the country is enjoying the program through three television channels.

Sisimpur has become the attraction for the children at the Amar Ekushey Book Fair. During the weekends of Book Fair, the Fridays and Saturdays, a great number of children splash towards the fair to spend fun time with Ikri, Halum, Tuktuki and Shiku. This has already become an integral part of the Amar Ekushey Book Fair.

Regarding the accomplishment of 17 years’ journey, the Managing Director of Sisimpur, Mohammad Shah Alam says that for sixteen years, this program is being created to meet the early education needs of 3 to 8 years old children. And the goal is also to meet the needs of the parents, caregivers and teachers. Through joyfulness and play, Sisimpur plays an integral role in the holistic development of the child. To mention some of them, there are: Language-letters; Mathematics; Environment; Gender equality; Social values ​​and behavior; Tolerance and respect for differences and diversity. There is also, balanced and nutritious food; Healthy Habits; Earthquake; Road safety and drowning related water safety; building awareness against injury prevention; Giving ideas about income-expense and savings to children. It includes our art-culture and heritage, and many more.

Sisimpur also emphasizing more on showing mutual respect, affection, admiration towards unity and diversity among the cultures as well as the people of the country.

Sesame Workshop Bangladesh operates all its activities jointly through public, private and international organizations. In the last 17 years, Sisimpur collaborated with the Government of Bangladesh through the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, Ministry of Culture etc. Sisimpur started its journey through a funding provided by USAID and the support from USAID is persisted till today.

Sisimpur is the Bangladeshi counterpart of New York-based educational television series Sesame Street which is co-produced in Bangladesh through Sesame Workshop Bangladesh.

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan on Saturday congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the new Parliament building inauguration.

SRK took to Twitter and shared a video showcasing the parliament building.

he wrote, "What a magnificent new home for the people who uphold our Constitution, represent every citizen of this great Nation and protect the diversity of her one [email protected] ji. A new Parliament building for a New India but with the age old dream of Glory for India. Jai Hind! #MyParliamentMyPride."

PM Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to inaugurate the new Parliament building on Sunday.

Earlier, music composer Ilaiyaraaja and actor Rajinikanth posted congratulatory messages.

Taking to Twitter, Ilaiyaraaja shared his excitement as a citizen and posted a statement.

The statement read, "Tomorrow as the Hon'ble PM inaugurates the new Parliament building, am happy & excited as a citizen & especially as a Parliamentarian and join our joyous and proud nation in congratulating PM Modi, the Govt of India & all those people who have contributed to building this historic structure in such a short time. I sincerely pray the new structure becomes the abode for transformational policies and decision making as the world celebrates a new India under the inspirational leadership of PM Modi."
He praised PM Modi for his vision of taking India to new heights and his duty-bound actions reflects the same.

The statement continued, "The royalty who possessed the revered Sengol (an ancient Tamilian culture & pride) and successfully ruled over their kingdoms revered the sceptre as a symbol of justice, order, honesty, and ethics. It's with immense pride and joy that we welcome the return of the sceptre to its rightful place of pride. As Head of the World's largest democracy, PM Modi has a vision of taking India to new heights and his duty-bound actions reflects the same. May God be with him in all his endeavors and I sincerely wish him, the Govt of India all success on this momentous occasion."

Rajinikanth also expressed his feeling and wrote, " the traditional symbol of tamil power - the scepter - will shine in india's new parliament building. My sincere thanks to the honorable bharat pratham @narendramodi who made tamilians proud."

Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament Building on December 10, 2020. It has been built in record time with quality construction.
The task of constructing the new Parliament building was a mammoth endeavour. It witnessed several key construction activities being done off-site as well. Further, the construction also saw the usage of materials sourced from across the country.

As per the government officials, Teak wood was sourced from Nagpur, Maharashtra while sandstone (red and white) was procured from Sarmathura, Rajasthan.

The carpets to be floored inside the new building were procured from Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh.

The bamboo wood flooring came from Agartala, Tripura.

From Rajnagar, Rajasthan and Noida, UP Stone Jali Works were obtained.

The material involved in constructing Ashoka Emblem was sourced from Aurangabad, Maharashtra and Jaipur, Rajasthan while Ashok Chakra came from Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

Some of the furniture acquired was procured from Mumbai. From Lakha, Jaisalmer Lakha Red granite was obtained. Ambaji White marble was procured from Ambaji, Rajasthan. Kesharia Green Stone was procured from Udaipur.

The stone carving work was obtained from Abu Road and Udaipur, and the stone aggregate was from Kotputali, Rajasthan.

The M-Sand was procured from Chakari Dadri, Haryana, and Fly Ash Bricks from NCR Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and the Brass work and Pre-cast Trenches were got from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, while the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha false ceiling steel structures came from UT of Daman and Diu.

Meanwhile, amid the boycott call by the opposition, the Centre has received a confirmed list of 25 political parties, including some which are not a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), that will participate in the inauguration ceremony. (ANI)

Srinagar's Dal Lake has been a witness to many romances in Indian cinema - Shammi Kapoor to Shah Rukh Khan, all have had their iconic dance sets filmed with the picturesque lake in their backdrop.

"Almost 370 Bollywood films have been filmed in the Kashmir Valley and now with the OTT platforms, this number will see a sharp increase," G-20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant stated.

According to him, the Working Group on Tourism will ensure more filmmakers from abroad visit the Valley.

"We are promoting Jammu and Kashmir so that foreign filmmakers also come here. We cannot become a world tourist destination without private investment. That's why we want global and domestic investment. We are also encouraging 100% FDI under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, including in the North Eastern states and hill states," said Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy.

"In Kashmir, you will find everything within a radius of 10 km. There are snow-capped mountains, rivers and lakes. It would not be wrong to say that this area is a producer's paradise," Union Minister of State for the Prime Minister's Office, Jitendra Singh told NDTV.

Earlier, a lot of films were shot in the Valley but the trend faded in the 1990s due to terrorism. But now it seems old times are coming back again, according to him.

"For the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir, such a big international event is happening here. It signifies how the situation has changed and how the youth here no longer want to participate in strikes. They want employment," he added.

The G 20 summit organised at the Sheri Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) was also attended by Oscar-winning film 'RRR' actor Ram Charan.

He along with the delegates reached the stage and danced to the song 'Naatu Naatu' from 'RRR'. During his performance, he also taught the hook step of the song to Korean Ambassador Chang Jae-bok.

Sharing his memories of Kashmir, he said, "I have been coming here since 1986. My father shot a lot here in Gulmarg and Sonamarg. I too shot here in 2016. There is some magic in this place which grabs everyone's attention."

The government is trying to bring a new film policy through this working group meeting.

In discussions held on Monday, many countries shared their experiences about how to promote their countries as a destination for filmmakers.

It was also discussed how Tourism in New Zealand went up 40% after the 'Lord of the Rings' movie was filmed there.

"As many as 6% of international tourists who visited New Zealand admitted that they went there after watching the film," claimed an official.

He said even Singapore's tourist traffic saw a huge jump after Hrithik Roshan-starrer Krrish was shot there. "Indian tourism to Singapore increased after Krrish, from 6 million before to 7 million after the film," he added.

Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir administration stated that about 1.8 crore tourists visited the Union Territory last year. And indications so far suggest that this year this number will see a sharp increase.

Source: NDTV

Saubhagya Sharma from Guwahati has been conferred the Youngest Philanthropist of the Year Award for Animal Welfare at the Global Excellence Awards 2023 which was held in Mumbai.

She was delighted to get the award from an animal lover and popular Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit Nene.

She has worked and volunteered with National and Internationally recognized NGOs like The Federation of Indian Animals Protection Organisations (FIAPO), Peta India, PFA and many more.

Saubhagya has always been very compassionate and kind towards stray animals. From fostering in her early teens, while she was working in the H.R. team with a leading international airline company she used to spend most of her non-working days in the animal shelters, orphanages and old age homes volunteering.

Following her passion, she has done an animal communication and psychology diploma under Elmira Strange, University of Whales, UK and under Celtic Learning Solution, Akshaya Kawle in Mumbai.

Inspired by Jo-Ann McArthur she turned VEGAN and has done numerous awareness campaigns, and activism events and single-handedly without any donations has rescued and vaccinated more than 800 strays in the country. Saubhagya aims to be the voice for all the voiceless and teach compassion over cruelty.

Akbar Hossain Pathan Farooq, veteran actor, member of Parliament and freedom fighter of Bengali film Miyabhai, passed away.

He died on Monday (March 15) at 8:30 am while undergoing treatment at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore (Inna Lillahi wa Inna Ilaihi Rajiun).

Farooq's wife Farhana Pathan confirmed the matter. She said that his body will be brought home on Tuesday morning flight.

She said, actor Farooq died around 8:30 am on Monday. He was under treatment in a hospital in Singapore for almost two years.

Actor Farooq had appeared in the big screen through the film 'Jalchhabi' directed by H Akbar. He won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1975 for his performance. In 2016, he was awarded a lifetime award.

Notable films he has acted include Sareng Bau, Lathiyal, Sujan Sakhi, Nayan Moni, Mia Bhai, Pinky Now Train, Saheb, Alor Michili, Din Jae Katha Rahe etc.